Strawberry Swirl Cream Cheese Pound Cake

During the summer when I was a kid, dessert on Sunday almost always meant angel food cake, strawberries and whipped cream. It was one of my favorite treats; even better were the Sundays when a pound cake magically appeared on my grandma’s table, along with the standard strawberries and whipped cream. We never had pound cake often, so it was definitely a treat to be cherished when it graced the dinner table. I loved the dense texture of the cake, how rich and moist it always was, and I especially loved the crust. It was my favorite part! I’ve since come to love pound cake for the absolute ease with which it can be prepared and the versatility with which it can be served. It’s the perfect dessert to have stashed in the freezer for unexpected company. I adore cream cheese pound cakes because of the extra little “oomph” in flavor and since I love it paired with strawberries so much, I decided to put the strawberries in the cake!

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Like all pound cakes, this one comes together pretty much effortlessly. A fabulously large amount of butter, sugar and eggs are creamed together before flour is added. Most pound cake recipes call for all-purpose flour, however I used cake flour, which creates more of a lighter, tender crumb than the all-purpose flour. It’s a subtle change, but I think it makes a huge difference in the texture of the pound cake.

My mom declared this cake one of the top five things that I have made, ever. That’s pretty high praise, considering I make (and she samples) hundreds of recipes a year. She first tasted a piece of it at work with a cup of coffee; she promptly emailed me to tell me how much she loved it, using all capital letters. That’s enthusiasm! This is definitely a basic recipe worthy of being stashed away in a “tried and true” recipe box. Some day your grandchildren might reminisce about eating this cake at your house!

A quick parting note: If you prefer a plain cream cheese pound cake, you can use this exact recipe (the same baking time and temperature) and simply omit the strawberry swirl filling.

Strawberry Swirl Cream Cheese Pound Cake

An incredibly dense and moist cream cheese pound cake with a strawberry swirl running through the middle.

Ingredients:

For the Strawberry Swirl:

⅔ cup finely diced fresh strawberries

¼ cup granulated sugar

¼ cup water

1 tablespoon cornstarch

For the Pound Cake:

1½ cups unsalted butter, at room temperature

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

3 cups granulated sugar

6 eggs, at room temperature

3 cups cake flour, sifted

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon salt

Directions:

Make the Strawberry Swirl: Combine the strawberries, sugar, water and cornstarch in a small saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture becomes very thick. Set aside and allow to cool to room temperature before using.

Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter on medium speed until combined and soft, about 2 minutes. Add the sugar continue to beat on medium speed, scraping the bowl once or twice, until the mixture is very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until each one is completely incorporated before adding the next. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, reduce the speed to low, and gradually add the flour until it has all been combined. Add the vanilla extract and salt and mix on low speed until incorporated, about 1 minute.

Spoon about ⅔ of the cake batter into the prepared Bundt pan. Top evenly with the strawberry filling, leaving a 1-inch border around the edge of the pan. Use a thin paring knife to gently swirl the strawberry filling with the cake batter just a few times – less is more. Spoon the remainder of the cake batter on top of the filling and gently spread to the edges of the pan, covering the filling.

Bake for 1¼ to 1½ hours, or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Allow the cake to cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn it out onto a wire cooling rack and allow to cool completely before serving. Leftovers can be wrapped in plastic wrap or placed in an airtight container and stored at room temperature for up to 4 days, or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Love this recipe!! That cake slice looks so moist, soft, creamy….simply yum!! Strawberries aren’t that abundant where I live, so I’d like to make a chocolate swirl version of this. Any suggestions to what recipe I could use to make the chocolate filling?

The fact that your mom said it’s one of the top 5 things you’ve EVER MADE and as you said, hundreds of things per year; things with tons of chocolate, PB, whipped cream, really complicated cakes, etc and this makes the cut. Well, say no more. I love how DENSE and moist it is. Pinned!

I am planning to use all purpose flour… Shd I add baking powder to that? If yes, then how much? Or could I use self raising flour instead? Please let me know as I am really wanting to make it for the family this week. Many thanks

This looks amazing and strawberries are on sale this week! YAY! When you say a prepared Bundt cake pan, is that greased and floured? I don’t use a Bundt pan often so just wanted to double check. It would be a shame to have it stick to the pan : )

Embarrassingly, my family and I used to eat the frozen Sara Lee poundcake for breakfast! There was nothing quite like a slice of poundcake first thing in the morning. I haven’t eaten pound cake like that since my childhood, but I might start it back up after making this!

I love pound cake!! When I was growing up my dad ate it for breakfast (which was followed years later by lots and lots of oatmeal when he realized how bad that breakfast was for him, lol) and I would sneak a piece some mornings. So good!!

Saw this and immediately made it. But seen I live in Europe we do everything with grams. I converted the cups but… The cake is really soggy. Could it be possible to get the grams from you? Maybe mine were wrong :(

Thx for your swift reply! I see that you have the same calculation as me. Maybe i made the strawberrie swirl to liquid. I will try the recipe one more time but will reduce the amount of water with the strawberries and also a little less sugar because it’s a little bit to sweet for my European taste ;) . Keep up the good ‘cooking’ , you are always inspiring :) !

Hi Shanna, I’m an American in Europe and have to do these conversions all the time. Follow Michelle’s conversions for the butter and cream cheese, but you need to remeasure the sugar and flour using a European measuring cup. 3 cups of sugar or flour = 710 ml EACH (yes, ml of volume) in your European measuring cup. You cannot substitute a gram measurement for the American cups measurements because of the differing densities of the ingredients. The same formula applies anytime you see “cups” in a US recipe: Use 210 ml of volume for one cup. (The same would apply for oats, nuts, peanut butter, etc.) You can also use this conversion calculator: http://www.metric-conversions.org/volume/cups-to-milliliters.htm All the best – hope it works!

P.S. Sorry, I made an error above. The 710 ml still equals 3 cups. However, for future calculations, 1 cup = 237 ml (not the 210 ml I wrote above – math afficionados hopefully already noticed the calculation error). I need to get to bed and start dreaming about this cheesecake instead of calculating it to death!

Hi Betti, I’m just wondering how you can use the same cup measurement for both flour and sugar? They vary greatly in volume, as 1 cup of flour (depending on the type) is around 4 ounces, while 1 cup of granulated sugar is 7 ounces – a huge difference!

Hi Michelle, very valid question – thanks for asking! That’s exactly the point: The justification is that we are converting a volume measurement to a volume measurement, not a volume measurement to a weight measurement. Our American measuring cups measure volume, not weight, and the European measuring cups are the same. However, they measure in milliliters instead of ounces and cups. Therefore, the one cup measuring line on our American measuring cups equals the 237 ml measuring line on a European measuring cup.

That’s only in theory, however, because the European measurements are typically in 50 ml increments. Shanna will have to use her European measuring cup, estimate where 237 ml are, and take that times three.

Just for kicks, I just did an experiment in my kitchen. I have American measuring cups here, so I measured 1 cup of normal white sugar and 1 cup of white enriched flour and then weighed the results on my metric food scale. The results: Sugar: 1 c = 210 g, 3 c = 630 g Flour: 1 c = 142 g, 3 c = 426 g Does that make any sense, or have I just confused the issue more?!?!

BTW, I discovered your blog last year and really enjoy it. I am learning a lot from you, and you have taken a vicarious seat at our table at several fun parties! You are helping me teach Germans that American food really can be good. Thanks for all your hard work and for sharing with us!

Hi Betti and Michele, yes now i am completely lost :-) . I just visited the recipe again because i want to try and work out what went wrong with the measurements. So if I understand it correct (and please bare with me i am blond ;-)), i should just take the gram measurements for the cream creese and butter BUT use my cups to weigh out the flour and sugar? Won’t i get the same as Betti and get 426 gr of flour and 630 gr of sugar? Or is that the correct weight? Grrrrr i am lost. It should be soooo much easier if everybody would use grams no ;-) ?!

Hi Shan, Unfortunately, I am not at all familiar with the ml measuring cup that Betti has referenced above. Since grams and ml aren’t routinely used here in the U.S., the best I can do is convert the ingredients to ounces using the King Arthur Flour chart that I linked to above, then convert that to grams.

This actually reminds me of a cake my grandma used to make when we were little … I’m going to have to make this for her sometime! She never used strawberries inside the cake though (just always with it on the side) – but I love that swirl : )

Hi Susan, I do not cook/bake at altitude. You can certainly give it a try – I would just do a little research on how best to adjust the baking time and temperature given how high above sea level you are.

I live in Denver too. I just always follow the recipe as is. I really don’t think we have to do anything different. I never follow high altitude directions, I feel cakes, breads, cookies, etc. Come out dry if I do. I will try it tonight and let you know how it goes. :)

Just as a recap – I did make this for myself on Mothers Day (I have no shame & I did share with the rest of the family!). It was so so so good – awesome with a cup of coffee or by itself. I will add this to my favorite recipes – thank you!

I can’t deny the stellar review of BEB’s mom!! This looks and sounds amazing…I think I might need to make it for my mom this weekend. Also I just found out today that it’s National Strawberry Month…even MORE reason to make this!

Knew this would be delicious,and it is…. After I baked your wonderful honey cake,best recipe I ever tried for this particular cake, your recipes remain among my faorites. Thank you for another excellent recipe.This one too will be made over and over.

So did you say leave it in the freezer? As in, already baked pound cake? How long will it last? I love pound cake and make it regularly and would love to have one in the freezer for emergencies. How do you take it out of the freezer and get it ready for immediate consumption?

Hi Rachel, Yes, I would let it cool completely, then wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, then place in a large ziploc bag. To thaw the entire cake completely you’d need to let it sit out for some time, but you can slice the frozen cake and those slices should thaw in about an hour or so.

This cake looks delicious! My daughter and me have just been browsing the internet to find some Mother’s Day surprise for my wife and this doesn’t look too difficult to help her with. Thanks for the idea, we will definitely let you know whether it worked for an unskilled cook and his little daughter!

What a beautiful cake! Because I have a crazy schedule tomorrow I’ll be making this tonite (Friday) for Sunday Mother’s Day Brunch. Plan to wrap it tight tonite, then dust with powdered sugar before serving and maybe have a little extra strawberry sauce on the side.

I have just been trying out a lot of pound cake recipes, and I’m so glad to have another one to try! I especially like that you use fresh strawberries instead of jam. Thanks for you instuction about how long to mix the butter and sugar, I’m afraid that the lemon pound cakelets I made this week were too dense because I didn’t beat long enough. BTW, I first discovered your blog for your Penguin and Steeler cookies – my husband is a Pittsburgher and I lived there for 15 years before dragging him across PA to Phila.

I am always inspired by your recipes and photos, Michelle! When I saw this, I instantly thought, Lemon pound cake with raspberry or blueberry swirl would also me yummy! I attempted lemon/raspberry last night, but ran into a couple issues – cake got a little overdone and then wouldn’t come out of the pan. My oven is a little off, so it may have been higher than 325; also, perhaps I didn’t grease/flour the pan enough. I think I also added too much raspberry-sauce. I managed to save much of the cake – and will serve it cut or as a base for raspberry shortcake. Sorry for babbling, but how would you adjust the recipe to add a little lemon flavor to the cake?

Hi Jill, I’m sorry you had some problems. Temperamental ovens are definitely problematic! Also, if you’re using a dark non-stick pan, be sure to reduce your oven temperature by 25 degrees, no matter what you’re baking. For lemon flavor – you could use lemon zest, lemon juice (that would probably be the most subtle) or lemon extract.

Wow, just made this and it’s still cooling. But I did sneak a slice. I used cake flour and I really think that does make a difference. I did have to cook the strawberry filling at a little higher heat to thicken. I think I might double it next time to have a little more filling in the cake. Mine took about an hour to bake. It is moist, delicious. Love it!

Hi Ashley, So glad you enjoyed the cake! To keep the swirl more in the middle, add less batter before adding the swirl, that should keep it closer to the top, so if it drops at all it will still be in the middle.

Made it for Mother’s Day and it was a hit. I didn’t have cake flour so I used the 1 cup all purpose flour minus two tbsp + 2 tbsp cornstarch method. Also I found 3 cups of sugar quite a lot so used 2 cups instead. I made one mistake. I put too much batter into my Bundt pan so the cake had a wide “ring” around the bottom. LOL. Main thing: everybody loved the cake!!!!

Hi there. This cake looked gorgeous, and I love both pound cake and cream cheese, so I made it for Mother’s Day today. It was the dryest cake I’ve ever had. I couldn’t even talk when I took a bite. I took it out of the oven at 1 1/4 hours of baking, followed the recipe to a T. What do you suppose happened? I’m bake a lot – so I’m not new…Thanks.

Hi Lana, I’m sorry that the cake didn’t turn out for you. If you followed the recipe to a T, unfortunately I’m not sure what the problem could have been. Did you use a dark non-stick pan? If you did and didn’t reduce the oven temperature by 25 degrees, then it could have overbaked. Also, do you have an oven thermometer? It’s possible your oven ran hot. I see a lot of feedback from other readers who made the cake over the weekend and didn’t have any issues, so I’m not sure I could pinpoint what might have gone wrong for you.

I made this for Mother’s Day & it was great! Everyone loved it & my son said that it is his new favorite cake! I bake a lot of cakes so that is a good thing!! I think that the cake flour really made a difference.

I made this over the weekend, it was BEYOND amazing!!!!!!!! So good and moist! Very easy to make but the strawberries took forever, I might make without and serve fresh ones with it next time. Thank you so much, amazing…….

I too made this for Mothers Day. It was so amazing that I had to stop back by and thank you… as well as tell you that I had rave reviews. I have a feeling that I’ll be making it many many more times in the future. It was the perfect compliment to the day and so delicious!

I made the cake for Mother’s Day–everyone loved it including the neighbors who got leftovers. I think I finally found the “secret” to the cake sold at my Farmer’s Market as The Best Damn Pound Cake. I buy one slice every Sunday when they’re open. I’ve made a plain cake for a luncheon tomorrow and will serve with fresh strawberry sauce on the side.

Hello, my name is Noêmia. I am Brazilian and I live in Portugal for many years. I made this wonderful cake and wanted to tell you how much I enjoyed! Participated with their recipe World Baking Day and received many compliments. Thanks for sharing your creations! Do not miss any posts! A big hug from Portugal, : o) P.S. Written through a translator

Hi, I’m thinking of trying this out with two small bundt pans, ie divide all the ingredients into 2 pans, instead of a regular one, to get 2 mini pound cakes. But I’m assuming the timing of baking would have to be adjusted, perhaps to about an hour instead?

I made this cake and it was really good, but I had way too much better for my bundt pan, I thought it was a standard size so im not sure what happened. It puffed over my pan more than I would have liked and was a weird shape but it tasted great. The strawberry filling was great too, next time I think ill use more of it, there wasn’t quite enough for my taste. Everyone loved it!

Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe, I tried this out as soon as I could and it was fabulous. Only difference was that I used frozen strawberries. Amazing crumb and oh yes the crust….stays atleast a couple of days room temperature…

Lovely work, Michelle! Would you be happy to link it in to the current Food on Friday which is all about cakes? This is the link . There are lots of great links there already. I do hope to see you there. Cheers

Sweet baby Jesus, this is some damn good cake. It’s usually hard for me to get on board with an icing-less cake, but I love me some cream cheese in my desserts and the strawberry swirl made it a must-try. I just gobbled up my first slice, and oh my god, this is the tenderest, moistest, buttery-rich, perfectly sweet cake in the whole world. And it was incredibly easy to make! Everybody, do yourself a favour and MAKE THIS.

Hi Michelle ( that’s my middle name :-)) . Love your blog. The pepperoni bread is a new staple in my house as well as the cinnamon sugar pull apart bread. I would love to try this with a lemon swirl instead of strawberry. Any ideas on how to do this? Thanks for this blog. You rock girl.

I just made this recipe as written and baked it in a standard Wilton bundt cake pan. Yield was way too much. I bet it rose 2″ above the rim. Think 3 cups sugar makes it too sweet, but it does have a nice texture and crumb structure.

Really? This cake is awesome — I don’t like cakes with frosting on them for the reason you mentioned but this cake is outstanding. Have you ever had a pound cake that you did enjoy? Perhaps you just don’t like pound cake.

I have a feeling the sugar and fat could be cut somewhat if the recipie incorportated honey for some of the sugar since it is twice as sweet and applesauce for some of the butter but I am afraid of making the whole thing too wet. Any advice?

Hi Jennifer, I generally don’t advocate many substitutions, as it will inherently change the texture and final result of the recipe. I have not experimented with either of the modifications you mentioned, so unfortunately, I can’t say how it would turn out.

I have made this cake before and it was pretty great, even though I was missing a whole stick of butter for the recipe. I think last time I used 2 1/2 cups sugar instead of 3, but it was still a bit too sweet. I’ll cut it back to 2 cups this time and I think I’ll double the amount of strawberry swirl… That was my favorite part of the cake. I’m making it in honor of my boyfriend’s mother and grandmother’s birthdays. They are a pound cake loving family, so this recipe is sure to please!

This is not a good time of year for fresh strawberries where I live, but my granddaughter asked for a strawberry cake for her birthday. Could I use frozen strawberries in place of fresh? And if so, should I still use the same amount of sugar, water, and cornstarch? Thank you.

I’ve made this several times now and it has to be one of the most fabulous cakes I’ve ever tasted! My only complaint is that each time I’ve made it, it has risen above the top of the pan and then while cooling, shrank a bit and the top/edge cracked and separated from the cake. It makes great pieces to taste before cutting into the cake, but the presentation isn’t as clean. Has that ever happened to you? I am using a 12 cup bundt pan, so I’m not sure why. I do mix for the times suggested in a stand mixer, but I assume you use a stand mixer as well.

7 out of 5 stars. That’s right, this pound cake is unbelievable. Directions were very clear, no problems and the finished product looked just like the pictures. You will be heralded as a pastry chef when you make this delectable cake for your guests. I’ve been making the pound cake in TJOC bible for over a dozen years. This pound cake rocks its socks off. Thanks BEB for this wonderfully tender taste treat and my new favorite pound cake.

Hi Michelle, I was wondering if i could leave out the cornstarch double it then puree the strawberries and add them to the batter so the whole cake will taste like strawberry? Do you think i would have to omit 1 or 2 eggs?

Hi I made the strawberry swirl cream cheese pound cake today and it was delicious and tender and moist for the most part. My only problem was the very top layer (really the bottom after its flipped out of the bundt pan) got dry and crunchy, which I don’t like. It did take longer for my cake to cook, closer to 2 hours until a skewer came out mostly dry. I would like to make this cake again but is there any way I can avoid getting that dry layer, which I end up having to pick off and throw away? I was wondering if tenting it with foil might do the trick?

This cake was amazing! I made this for my sister’s July 4th party this weekend and accidentally took all of the remainder home. I received a phone call almost immediately asking for the cake…it was referred to as the crack form of cake! Someone came by to pick up the rest.

Oh, and some information for the others who have some questions….the mark of a good pound cake is cracking on the top of the cake. This cake does crack on the top and it will appear to be too much for the standard 10 cup bundt pan, but it will sink slightly when cooled. I do recommend that you invert this directly onto your serving dish when the time comes to turn it out, or the sliding from the cooling rack to the plate will affect the cracked bottom of the cake. (you’ll lose some). Also, I didn’t use fruit, but added lemon zest and lemon juice along with some vanilla and finished it with a lemon glaze. So good. It will now be my go to cake.

Hello, I made this recipe to the T but I found it not to be as moist as the other cake recipes i have tried. It was still good, but i would like for it to be a little more moist. Any suggestions? I followed the recipe as written, and i used a lighter banking pan but i reduced the temperature by 25 degrees because my nordic pan tends to make my cakes darker . Also, my strawberries were darker than the pics in the recipe when it came out. I baked the cake on 325 degrees and for about 1 hour and 15 mins. Please advise.

Hello, I made this recipe to the T but I found it not to be as moist as the other cake recipes i have tried. It was still good, but i would like for it to be a little more moist. Any suggestions? I followed the recipe as written, and i used a lighter banking pan but i reduced the temperature by 25 degrees because my nordic pan tends to make my cakes darker . Also, my strawberries were darker than the pics in the recipe when it came out. I baked the cake on 325 degrees and for about 1 hour and 15 mins. Please advise.